Trying to think outside the box this Valentine's Day? Zoë's Chocolate Co. has this one in the bag. The Pennsylvania based artisan chocolate company offers one of their signature creations, Love in a Bag, for the most amorous day of the year. Each bag features a romantic saying and is filled with sweet, buttery English toffee that is coated with rich dark chocolate, and topped with sugar hearts and crunchy almonds. (You might want to get more than one bag, as the contents have a habit of disappearing very quickly.)

Looking for something a little more understated? Zoë's also has white mint and dark chocolate Love in a Bar. These simple, yet elegant bars are made of pure chocolate and adorned with a pattern of red hearts. The deep, rich flavors of these bars are perfect for the chocolate lover in your life.

Want to wow your sweetheart with a grand gesture? Go for the Love in a Big, Big Box. This is no ordinary box of chocolates; the giant assortment features the toffee and chocolate bars, along with a box of their signature Mediterranean inspired chocolates, a box of caramel filled chocolates, and two lip shaped, dark chocolate kisses.

Whatever message you're trying to send this Valentine's Day, what better way than to say it with chocolates?

If you spend any time on the series of tubes or watch/listen to old media, you might be aware the Northeast is in major panic mode over the kind of snowstorm that once was normal in winter. My big fear, as always, is that we might lose power and access to the Internets. Our larder is stocked; we could get by for days even if we didn't know restaurants will always be open here.

But it was chilling to hear reports all day that many of the people displaced by "superstorm" Sandy are really in trouble now. All through the tristate area, homes haven't been rebuilt, damage hasn't been undone.

Which means food banks have never been more important. This week a friend took me to the one for which she volunteers, West Side Campaign Against Hunger, and I learned much more than that there is such a thing as a free lunch, and a pretty good one at that (the beef stew had super-tender meat, plus olives for that essential acid, while the guava cheesecake could command a following if it were available for sale).

The big shocker was that food pantries don't want just anything donated. They care about their clients.

So if you want to help, do not bring them canned soups (A K A liquid sodium). Give ingredients people can use to make nutritious meals. The list includes dried or canned beans, whole-grain pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, canned fruit packed in water rather than syrup, canned fish, dried fruit and (who would have thought?) tea. Low-sodium spaghetti sauce and salsa are also welcome.

I've always been miffed no one wants to take what I have to give away by the bagful: fancy jams and jellies from my in-law equivalent and from media events. I always thought it was the glass packaging that was the problem. But it's more likely no one can live by marionberry preserves alone. Especially in the richest country in the world, food is more than fodder.

Most of the East Coast will be digging out from a blizzard by this time tomorrow, which means it's time for a refresher course in cocoa-making (and if you don't happen to live on the East Coast, feel free to enjoy a hot cuppa chocolate anyway: Consider it "sympathy cocoa").

If you're coming back from shoveling the driveway and your fingers are too frozen for anything more complicated than tearing open a packet, our instant hot cocoa taste test reveals which supermarket-bought chocolate packets are worth dumping into your mug, including our top no-sugar-added pick.

There's a new beer glass on the scene, crafted specifically for hoppy American India Pale Ales.

Spiegelau introduced its IPA-specific beer glass Tuesday, a wavy 19-ounce vessel designed to amplify the hoppy aromas of the beer while keeping it cooler than the average bar glass. The company, owned by wineglass maker Riedel, designed the glass in partnership with the founders of the Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head breweries, Ken Grossman and Sam Calagione.

"Compare an IPA in a glass the way most people first experience them--like a pint or a mason jar--versus this IPA glass, it's so radically different it's hard to believe until you try it," says Matt Rutkowski, the vice president at Spiegelau who headed up the project.

Two friends are combining their shared interests and individual talents to publish a foraging guide and cookbook. Foraging & Feasting, they say, "celebrates our local bounty and traditional foodways."

Dina Falconi describes herself as a clinical herbalist with a strong focus on food activism and nutritional healing. For more than 20 years she has taught classes about using herbs for food, medicine, and pleasure, including wild-food foraging and cooking.

The gorgeous botanical illustrations by Wendy Hollender bring the plants to life on the page. Wendy has worked for more than 15 years as a botanical illustrator.

Together, Dina and Wendy have been writing, drawing, designing, and testing the recipes for three years, in what they describe as a "tasty culinary adventure." Wendy is the illustrator and visual co-designer; Dina is the writer, artistic director, visual co-designer and recipe tester.

They joined together as partners in Foraging & Feasting, and recently received the funding they need to publish the book. I caught up with them by email to ask some questions about the project.

How did the two of you meet? Are you long-time friends?

We met three years ago at a neighborhood, outdoor cobb-oven pizza-making and movie-watching party. A mutual friend introduced us. We live in small rural hamlets in the Mid Hudson Valley of New York, about four miles from each other. Dina has lived in the area for 22 years, and Wendy moved here three years ago. The book is our first project together.

I'm taking a wild guess here, but Chinese takeout is probably the first Asian food many Americans taste. It's pretty cheap, tasty, and filling. But on the downside, Chinese takeout has the unfortunate reputation of being unhealthy. So what do you do if you really want to have Chinese Chicken Salad, Chinese Barbecued Pork, Beef Chow Fun, General Tso's Chicken but want it without all the oil, salt, and MSG? You reach for Diana Kuan's The Chinese Takeout Cookbook: Quick and Easy Dishes to Prepare at Home (Ballantine Books). In Kuan's cookbook, you can recreate these favorite takeout dishes in a manner that renders them healthier and just as tasty. And the satisfaction that comes with making your own "takeout" really can't be beat.

Kuan, the force behind the blog Appetite for China, took some time to explain her surprising background, where to shop for ingredients, and how Chinese food tastes differently here in the U.S. compared to that in China.

Epicurious: You write in your introduction that you actually spent time in Puerto Rico as a child. What was that experience like for you from a culinary perspective? Were there foods you missed that you couldn't easily get? Were there new foods or dishes that really shaped or changed the way you ate?

Diana Kuan: I was really young when I was in Puerto Rico, about 5 or 6, but I still remember all the plantains that came with the stir-fries and noodle dishes my uncle's restaurant serves. (I still crave them to this day!) It was also the first time I experienced sweeter sauces and more fried dishes, which were very different than the light Cantonese fare my mom cooked at home. Living in Puerto Rico was when I became conscious that what was considered Chinese food changed depending on where you go.

(Read the rest of the Q&A with Diana Kuan, and get three recipes perfect for the Lunar New Year, after the jump.)

Sometimes it's easy to forget that "salad" in February doesn't have to be limp leaves of lettuce and pallid tomatoes. Here, hearty winter salads to make you feel healthy, virtuous, and happy. Talk about multi-tasking.

Have you noticed something called "inulin" appearing on more and more labels over the past few years? Inulin is a natural ingredient derived from roots--usually chicory root--used to pump up the fiber in all sorts
of products, including food bars, yogurt, and cereal. As you likely know, eating plenty of fiber can help control cholesterol and blood pressure, regulate blood sugar, aid proper digestion, and facilitate weight loss.

The majority of Americans fall short on fiber, so it makes sense to add it where you can. And inulin is a "prebiotic," meaning it helps probiotic bacteria flourish in your gut. That said, I'm not convinced that eating tons of inulin-fortified products is the best way to up fiber intake. For starters, inulin can cause gas: In fact, "Of all the fibers added to foods, inulin is the one that probably causes the most intestinal gas," Joanne Slavin, a professor of nutrition at the University of Minnesota, was quoted as saying in the January/February issue of the Nutrition Action Health Letter. While gas isn't dangerous, it can be painful and embarrassing. Another reason to think twice about inulin: When you eat fortified products instead of whole foods, you're missing out on all the antioxidants and vitamins of fruits and vegetables. That's why I prefer to get my fiber--and prebiotics--from whole foods whenever possible. Garlic, onions, leeks, and asparagus are four easy-to-find sources of prebiotic fiber (for more details, check out what the Nutrition Diva and World's Healthiest Foods say about prebiotics). And keep your eye out for Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes), an excellent natural source of inulin. Try them in the Jerusalem Artichoke and Arugula Salad recipe pictured here.

2013 marks the centennial of the publication of Marcel Proust's Swann's Way, the first installment of his seven-volume magnum opus Remembrance of Things Past. One of the most epic and influential works in all of literature, the story begins when the narrator dips a dainty, spongy cake cookie--a petite madeleine--into his tea, thus unleashing a flood of childhood memories:

"'I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm
liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me
and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An
exquisite pleasure invaded my senses....Whence could it have come to me, this
all-powerful joy?'"

It's hard to point to a more iconic food scene in literature (or to a more prevalent cultural cliché), but I'm taking advantage of this anniversary to think about some other fabulous food moments in the world of fiction (and poetry). Here are some of my favorite writings on the comforts, pleasures, and powers of food (a.k.a. literature that makes me hungry!):

--In Jack Kerouac's On the Road,
Sal Paradise relies on a diet of apple pie with ice cream as he hitches
his way across the country ("it was getting better as I got
deeper into Iowa--the pie bigger, the ice cream richer"). Sal, you're living
the dream!

--Growing up in upstate New York, I learned just about everything I know
about the South--and Southern food--from Harper Lee's poignant and
powerful To Kill a Mockingbird.
After reading about fried chicken, biscuits and syrup, scuppernongs,
cracklin' bread, peach pickles (so exotic!), ambrosia, and dewberry
tarts, I wanted to move down there immediately (though, frankly, I'd
have passed on the pickled pigs' knuckles). And of course, there's
Scout's awesome ham costume, which, for the record, I'd wear in a New
York minute if I were promised biscuits and syrup...

--Two poems about food (as metaphor or otherwise) that never fail to take my breath away are fruit-focused (click on the links to read the complete poems): Galway Kinnell's "Blackberry Eating" ("fat, overripe, icy black blackberries") and William Carlos Williams' "This Is Just to Say."

--One of the most evocative--and heartbreaking--eating scenes that come to mind is from Raymond Carver's classic short story "A Small, Good Thing." When a family suffers an unspeakable tragedy, a baker offers them warm cinnamon rolls, saying "Eating is a small good thing in a time like this."

--Finally, we come to the mouthwatering riches of children's literature. Though there are far too many delicious food moments in the pantheon to mention, for now I'm going with Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden. Anyone who's read it will no doubt remember the tantalizing talk of "roasted eggs," oatcakes, and, of course, clotted cream. I had no idea what "clotted" cream even meant--and, honestly, I'm not sure why I wasn't more put off by that word--but it all just sounded so dreamy and cozy, and, well, cute.

I'd love to hear about your favorite food writing in literature! Please tell me your thoughts and memorable quotes from novels, poems, and other works. In the meantime, I'm hungry...

More and more dog owners are putting their friends on strict vegan diets, convinced that keeping their pooches clear of meat alleviates allergies, improves energy and overall health, and is better for the environment.

Some owners even claim the dogs are more than willing participants.

"You only have to spend a few seconds in the room, when they hear carrots being chopped up they're like lightning," a Canadian vegan tells the National Post. "We feed them green beans, raw carrots, raw cabbage, and they go crazy."

(Side note: His dogs' names are Major Wigglebottoms IV and Willie Kerfluffington II.)